The Sun is shining

Yes, for the moment the rain has ceased but there is a cyclone up in the Coral Sea that could either go away from us or then veer back.  Cyclones are unpredictable like that.

To celebrate I decided to do away with my "old lady" nighties and get with the groove.  So I lashed out and bought these new flannel Pj's with new brightly coloured tops as well.

The aqua were not my first choice yesterday when I discovered them.  I had bought a purple pair with pink hearts all over them.   I did try them on when I got home and they were ok, then threw them in a cold wash.  When they were dry  (on the line) I ironed them ready to wear one set to bed.

Well!   Put the purple pair  on and they had shrunk!  !?%&### So today I trekked back down to the shops and exchanged them all for larger sizes.  The new ones are longer so hope if they are going to shrink they shrink to shorter so I dont have to turn up hems.

Anyway if this size works I will be a snug and warm and colourful   when I go to bed.   Keeping my fingers crossed.

This morning I noticed my new little neighbour flitting about and managed to get a pic of her.

She is a little female wren and her mate is a gorgeous colour blue.  He is too quick for me to be able to get a pic but he looks like the ones we had at serenity below. They have a nest in the shrub the female is sitting on just outside my door.  I cant help wondering if they have followed me here from Serenity.

While checking out the wrens I noticed that the camelias are beginning to flower outside my unit and could not resist picking a couple for a vase on my desk

Have a happy weekend all.

Chloe is Now Famous

Here in Queensland we have a programme in some of the schools called "Story Dogs".  Our Chloe who belongs to DIL and son,  fits the criteria to be a Story Dog (because she is so gentle and intelligent) and recently had her photo in the local paper at the Gold Coast which I would like to share.

She just loves being with the children and seems to know when it is time for her to go to school each Monday.  

This photo  shows her as a picture of innocence....a little different to when she is bounding round the paddocks trying to catch Beau or stalking him.

Beau, who is Chloe's "brother" is always sad and lonely when Chloe goes off to School of a Monday. Here is his Monday face.  The photos are by courtesy of Wag The Dog    You can see some wonderful action photos of them both  there.

Tast 2013 to Stitch 57

At last I have been able to catch up with the Tast Stitches from December.   I have put them onto the one sampler.  They include Berry Stitch, Knotted Cable Chain,  and Arrowhead stitch from 2012.

For 2013 I have now completed the knotted feather stitch, inverted feather stitch, triangular feather stitch, herringbone stitch.. square and laced, buttonhole herringbone, sailors stitch and sailors edge stitch.....phew! that's a lot.    Not a very exciting sampler, but at least I have caught up.

Some of the other stitches which I haven't posted are those completed in 2010 and which are on my  Flicker page.

Sharon Boggon  is amazing how she can find all these new stitches for us to use.  I have not heard of the sailor stitch or sailors edge stitch they are both new to me.   I would love to own a copy of the Batsford Encyclopedia of Stitches, but when I checked out the cost it is way beyond my budget......over $300 au. I saw it for.

If you wish to see Sharon's work, and  the tast stitches go to http://pintangle.com/  

Back to Stitching

When I was asked to take part in the Quilt Group Open Day,(The link will take you to the Toowoomba Quilt Group Blog where you will find lovely examples of the quilts the ladies have made),I was very flattered. 

I don't quilt now myself  but I  was to have a display of my embroidery work, (which you can also see on the Quilt  Group Open Day link, and demonstrate some stitching throughout the day. 

The Club had a very successful day, with lots and lots of visitors.   Our organiser Ineke did a wonderful job with the Club getting a lot of positive feedback.

Needing something to stitch on, I made up a couple of little sample kits to use, and have now been able to finish these.

This first one is demonstrating some Mountmellick style stitching, and the second I have used to show bullions and woven picots which are used a lot in Casalguidi work.   Of course, being me I have not done things in the traditional manner but put  a creative twist to the designs.

The last of the first batch of cushions is ready to post when the rain stops, and now these will all be subjected to being thrown into the washing machine to establish how everything stands up to being laundered in this manner.......fingers crossed!   DIL wants to ensure that they will do what the label says they will do, and we can eliminate using any threads that are not colorfast.

In the photo the G looks crooked but on the piece I could not see that, so in future DIL is going to do the attaching of the letters because she has a better eye for a straight line than I do.  Although I think it would be pretty good if all the letters and hearts were crooked.

When I was stitching last week I was having trouble seeing the work, and not at all at night so on the advice of my good friend Dianne went to the website of The Scissorman and found myself a floor lamp. Check out the website it is very interesting and tempting.

Yesterday this box was left on my doorstep .  Inside was another box

And inside that were the makings of this.

I am so proud of myself I was able to put it together without the help of any man and did not electrocute myself when I plugged it in and turned it on.   No doubt many of you will already have one of these or similar and know what a difference they can make to being able to see your work clearer.   It even comes with a magnifying glass.  Sorry about the poor photo

New Venture

I think my dear DIL thinks that I am bored and need purpose in my life so she has devised a "plan" to give me something to while away the boring hours of my day.:)

She is of the opinion that her two furry babies should be able to enjoy the same comforts of home as she and hubby do, and has decided to expand that to include all furry babies.

 Chloe and Beau, our furry babies have their own web page and Facebook page if you would like to have a look. If you want to read about her two lovelies, who I might add love their nana, you can go to this link.   On the link site there are also more photos of the "children" on their facebook page.

To this end she feels that all pets should have the luxury of resting their dear little heads on a soft comfy cushion.  So she is in the process of designing cushions just for pets, and has enlisted my help to make sure said cushions are in the luxury category and include some hand embroidery.

So as a result, last week I received a package in the mail with the first lot of fabrics and instructions:

After some deliberations as to colours and some instructions from my friend Di on how to use visofix I have come up with the first two

The wording is to ensure that the humans in the family do not steal the cushions for their own use.  The design range will expand I am sure as we go on.  Which means I am so glad that in the last couple of weeks I realised I could no longer vacuum and have engaged a nice lady to do it for me.

Now I can sit back and embroider and pretend I am a lady.

Fortunately I do not have to do the machine sewing of the actual cushions DIL is much more experienced in this. My  sewing machine and I are definitely not friends.

There will be more designs coming, and will be on the Wag the Dog Website as soon as we are organised.

 I have given myself a new nickname...if these sell in any numbers I will be then known as "sweatshop shirley".....my only hope is they will not turn the "dungeon" under their home into my workroom.

That on its own is a reason to stay healthy so I can live in my own lovely little unit, sitting back with my needle and threads in idle relaxion.

More pretty cushions to come.  I'm on a roll.

Catching Up

Last week my friend Di and I had the pleasure of lunching with an old friend from our Rainbow Beach days.   Ellie was a long time member of our local craft group there, and was our very able President.

Ellie with Di

Now 89 we discovered that she had moved to Toowoomba into a retirement village.     It was so exciting to see her again.  She is an absolute marvel, still stitching, and quilting.    Bright as a button, we had a wonderful time reminiscing about old times.

I was sent a link to a site which sells beautiful hand dyed threads,

 LES Designs by lorraine. 

Unfortunately I was very naughty because I could not resist purchasing some of the beautiful threads. 

I mentioned in my email to Lorraine, that I was looking for some threads in aqua/turquoise tones, and she even sent me two samples to try until she has restocked those colours.

The two threads at the bottom are my free samples.   Oh well I did only buy three skeins so I suppose that is only a little bit naughty.

Hope all my friends are enjoying a lovely weekend. 

Rotten Weather

It is raining cats and dogs here, has been all night.   I have debris from the damn gum tree on my fence and patio.  The wind is getting close to cyclonic.   The electronic gates refuse to open into the complex.....brrrr.    What a climate of wild extremes we have here.

Before the rains came I took a photo of a stunning cactus flower that bloomed in one of my pots.   I dont know the name of it but the ants must like the nectar because they were all over it.

The branches that are coming down from the gum tree at this stage are only small, but gum trees are notorious for dropping larger ones and also falling over so keeping my fingers crossed that the storm passes before that happens.

Just as well there did not come down on the roof

This is taken through the window with the rain distorting the pic.

 

This is the offending gate that has us locked in. There is no battery backup on it which needs to be fixed.

The people who have just moved into the front flat have visitors for the weekend and one of them has his car parked inside the fence behind their garage so hope he does not want to leave to go home any time soon.   None of the tenants will be able to get out to go to work on Tuesday either.   There is a small gate to get out of provided the keys work in that which they often don't.

At a time like this I am glad I only have my own two feet to rely on.

Off to the front lounge room to watch some tv.  If only this weather could go to where the bushfires are down south.

Hope everyone is having a nice and safe weekend.